Oh JoyOh Joy

the coolest pop-up book ever...

food pop-up book by warabe kimika

The other day, I took the Oh Joy team on an inspiration field trip to Little Tokyo in downtown L.A. While at the Japanese bookstore, I came across this little pop-up book that I had to get for Ruby. I'm a sucker for pop-ups, and it's seriously one of the best I have ever seen...

food pop-up book by warabe kimika

food pop-up book by warabe kimika

food pop-up book by warabe kimika

Ruby loves it so much that she has asked to read it as her bedtime story every night since I found it. I have no idea what it says so we just make up a story about these cute animals and their favorite foods. You know a book is good when you don't need the words to keep a child entertained!

P.S. The book is called: Tabemono (Food) by Kimika Warabe. Thanks for the translation, Joyce and Lindsay!

a year of fauchon...

Fachon-eclairs1

Fachon-eclairs2

If there was ever a book I wanted to eat, the French book, Une Année de Fauchon {A Year of Fachon} would be it. The French patisserie makes such beautiful edible delights that can even be appreciated just by looking at them. I especially love these fancy pants eclairs.

{photos by Fachon}

pedestal perfection...

Herriott-grace-pedestal

These images of little cakes on little pedestals by Herriott Grace makes me insanely happy. I'd love to stick these at every place setting and give everyone a cake of their very own...for no reason whatsoever.

{photos by Herriott Grace, read her super cute blog, Forty-Sixth at Grace.}

little sweets...

Japanese-book-tiny-sweets copy

Small foods may just be my favorite thing on the planet. I love the idea of having lots and lots of dishes in tiny portions so that you can comfortably taste test them all one bite at a time! So I had to share some snippets from another Japanese cookbook I picked up recently, the Book of Little Sweets by Yuki. I will now proceed to make all dinners in tiny bite-sized portions packaged and presented in the cutest of vessels and containers...

{photos from the Book of Little Sweets}

{japanese inspiration}: polka dots!

Ricca-fukuda-dot-sweets1
Ricca-fukuda-dot-sweets3

Last week, I took a quick trip to my local Japanese grocery store to satisfy a massive sushi craving and found myself engrossed in their bookstore. I've always love the simple, yet sweet, elements of Japanese design and found myself suffering from heart palpitations after coming across this adorable book. Dot Sweets by Ricca Fukuda is filled with various desserts all decorated with and formed into...polka dots! I can't read a lick of it, but I can guarantee you a polka-dotted meal {while wearing my polka-dotted helmet} is in my near future.

{photos from Dot Sweets}

gastronomica...

Gastronomica_magazine

My new favorite magazine, Gastronomica, is an academic foodie's delight. The quarterly magazine combines sensual and intellectual nourishment by exploring food as an important source of knowledge about different cultures and societies, provoking discussion and encouraging thoughtful reflection on the history, literature, representation, and cultural impact of food.

{image of kimchi above from the Summer 09 issue of Gastronomica}

i ♥ gourmet magazine...

Gourmet-magazine-heart-cookies
...so very sad about this...i hope they find a way to at least keep it online?

{photo by gourmet}

tasting table...

Tasting-table

...like the Daily Candy of food, Tasting Table is a free daily email that delivers the best of food and drink culture to adventurous eaters everywhere. Their city-specific emails are only available in New York, LA, and Chicago right now, but more to come soon.